Pacific:
6-13 overall, 1-4 in the WCC. Tigers are coming off an upset win over BYU on Saturday on the heels of 7 straight losses and 2 COVID shutdowns.
They beat BYU without one of the top scorers, Luke Avdalovic, who scored 23 against us in the first matchup and is their top 3pt shooter. He left their prior game vs. Portland w/ an injury,; not sure what his status is for our game. In his absence, 2nd year UNLV transfer Nick Blake stepped up w/ 20 pts. vs. BYU; Blake did not play against us the 1st time around.
Pacific starting 5:
PG- Pierre Crockrell - 6-1 (7.5 pts, 4 assists, not a 3pt threat)
G - Khaleb Wilson-Rouse 6-2 (4pts, 25% 3pt shooter
Wing- Nick Blake - 6-6 (8pts/game, 24% 3pt shooter)
Forward- Jeremiah Bailey 6-6, 220 (10pts, 6rebs, 36% 3pt shooter)
Forward- Alphonse Anderson - 6-6, 220 (11.4pts, 6.4 rebs, 38% 3pt shooter)
With Avadalovic likely out, Pacific’s two forwards, Bailey and Anderson are their top 3pt threats…something to keep an eye on as Braun and Vrankic are going to have to extend their D to contest 3’s. And with both forwards at only 6-6 we do have a length advantage in the post. I don’t mind getting Vrankic and Braun some touches in the post in this game given that length advantage but hopefully we don’t overdue it and sacrifice the pace and ball and player movement that works best for our O.
This will be our 4th game in 8 days. Hopefully, Sendek uses the bench early, lets Bediako, Stewart and Giordan spell the starters for decent stretches so the starters are fresh in the 2nd half and crunch time.
Not sure if the fan restrictions will be lifted but I don’t expect much of a crowd either way given a 6pm start on a Monday night against a weak opponent.
Line is at SCU -12.5 right now. I watched a good chunk of the UoP-BYU game. The Tigers are not horrible. To me, it seems like a bunch of guys who haven’t played a lot together…maybe because they have a few key transfers who came in this year? I just feel like the game is going to be more of a dogfight, and not a blowout win. I’ll say SCU 77 - 70 UOP.
All things considered, I’m quite happy to have a stream that seems to be working so far. But it’s kind of hilarious that when the stream finally works, the virtual scoreboard hits the fritz.
Sloppy game so far. Throwing in the second team seemed like the right choice based on that first 5 min.
Very similar to the first half of the USD game. Not sure why Jalen is not touching the ball more. Pacific does not have a lockdown defender. I think he can penetrate into the paint every possession.
Hopefully we can play with some tempo in the second half and get 10 shot attempts each for Jalen Williams and Justice over the next twenty minutes. Pacific has no problem turning the ball over if you apply any sort of pressure but we aren’t doing that tonight.
Much better start to the second half. Pushing the ball on offense …and on defense we are making Bailey a driver where he is much less effective and turnover prone.
Stewart’s energy is great and gets plenty of mention.
But kudos to Giordan for a good game off the bench as well, 14pts overall and his 8 1st half points were important in keeping us relatively close.
Also another double-double for Justice 16pts, 10rebs plus 3 assists and 2 blocks. I feel like Keyshawn is kind of the unsung hero this season…Jalen and Vrankic get the attention but Keyshawn’s scoring is up to over 14pts with improved FG%, he’s our leading 3pt shooter and top rebounder. The rebounding is especially noteworthy, a big improvement from previous seasons.